Just recently installed coilovers and went through the tub. In order to clear everything some pretty big holes were needed. I will eventually box them in, but curious if anyone else has done something to cover the holes until then. So far I have heard of a t-shirt, a witch hat and a shifter boot. But curious if anyone has done anything else.

 

Haha. Well, generally helps to think about that ahead of time. Where the tubes go through, you can get rubber grommets. However, works a lot better to install those before the tube is welded in.

Many of us french the frame and go through the wheel wells. Then it is easy to make covers. I put a grommet in the cover and have a removable strut tower brace (not in the picture, but you get the idea). That way the body can still flex, but I'm sealed up.

Word of caution, make sure you route your exhaust well past the body and be cognizant of carbon monoxide entering the inside. You won't smell it and will be out before you know what happened.

 

I did as mentioned above with sheet metal. Not really any other clean way to do it. I have seen some do soft covers, but to be honest it looked like they did 90% of the project, then just skimped out at the end. If you've gone this far, the covers are easy.

 

Why are your coilovers mounted so far inward?

 

Probably on stock width axles

 

Ringer is stock width too. Just takes some frame modification.

The OP mounted them inboard the frame, which is the easy way and avoids having to french the frame. Unfortunately, it is not an ideal way to mount coilovers and as you can see, creates quite the body mess.

 

I did not want to notch the frame as it was more work than I was prepared to do. Plus I have plans for the back area.

Yep, stock.

Ya, I didnt want to french my frame. But they work well this way and I have plans in the longer run. Curious why you think this way is not idea? If its just because of the lack of cargo area I am not concerned that much.

 

Not ideal in terms of suspension geometry. Less stable, and other more complex topics dealing with leverage, spring rate, etc.

 

But more flex if there mounted closer to the dif!

 

I didnt have much to work with as the outboard option while ideal just wasn't in the budget this time around. But I did not want to do the bolt on setup. It did take me a lil while to get the spring rates close as most of the info was on what the spring rates were on the bolt on kits. Wasn't till recently leverage came into play. But it feels great on road and the suspension travel works well but the rear trac bar and gas tank dont let it perform at 100%. I have not ridden in a JK with the outboard coilovers but I have in the Evo cantilever and Rebel and Evo bolt ons, and stability with this setup is not an issue at least for me or my wife.